Everything Photography, Painting, Senior Pictures, Graduation Photography, Commercial Photography, Portraits, Family Photographs, How to Dress for Pictures, How to take great pictures, How to look Great in pictures, and Great Pictures in General.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

These guys were such a fun couple. Hired as models for a photography seminar that I was speaking at, they were being shot at from all directions by people of all different skill levels, so I thought I'd jump in and save them from the masses for a while before I had to go speak. I pulled them into the water park in Tempe, and all of the little kids had a field day squirting them! Juliette and I just clicked right away, and her honey, Nick is so totally in love with her, it just made the time pass like nothing...His son was there, too and did an awesome job for me as well. They just look so right for each other. I'm gunning for them to get married so that I can shoot more of the love!

Friday, August 14, 2009

Ok, so your pictures never look like a professional's do, and you want to know why, right?

Especially in digital, I think that the biggest thing that you pay for is how short the delay is between the time you push the button on the camera and when the shutter actually clicks, if that makes sense...you know, when you have a great moment, and you never get it on film? That's the cheapie mom camera. The delay is too long, and you end up taking a picture of someone elses kid picking his nose.

Another thing to look into is the lens size. It's cheaper to buy a Kit, where there's a camera and lens together, however, Most of the "Kit" lenses only stop down to 5.6, which is almost like a mom camera in depth of field. One of the reasons that a professional picture looks so different is that a lot of times the subject is sharp, but the background is blurred out. You can do that a little bit on the kit lenses, but in order to get a sharp subject and blurred background, it's really nice to be able to stop down to 2.8. That being said, a 70-200 2.8 lens with image stabilization is $1800 and a 5.6 one is about $200, so you can choose how important that feature really is to you ! ;) A lens with a 2.8 also helps alleviate all of those nasty black shadows that you get when you take a picture with a flash on camera...you're letting in more natural light, so you don't need as much flash.As for an entry camera body, I'm a canon girl, so a canon rebel is ok, a canon 40 or 50 D is better, bigger screen on the back to view the pictures, more bells and whistles, but most importantly, shorter time between when you push the button and when you actually take the picture. Don't buy a digital camera used. You may think that you're getting a bargain, but digital cameras aren't made like film cameras...they are only made to assume a certain amount of "clicks", then they're through. So go buy that camera, take a lOT of pictures and Let me know what you think!

Monday, August 3, 2009

I have known the Pederson Family since their oldest son, Rhett, and my oldest daughter, Zoe, were in diapers. Steve was my chiropractor in Minot, and Jodi, well, to say she's just the dearest, most wonderful friend on God's Green Earth is an understatement, so it was such a treat for me to shoot their family while I was in Minot this past June. The kids were a laugh riot, and Steve didn't even get mad at me when I made him bring his coffee table from the living room out to the front lawn...in the RAIN! Now, that's good people! see more on my facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/Anthem-AZ/Barbara-Stitzer-Photography/45325794506?ref=ts and while you're there, become a fan! You'll be glad that you did!!

Shot of the Week: Nicole!

Welcome to the Barbara Stitzer Photography Blog!

Hi! and Welcome to the Barbara Stitzer Photography Blog! I have been an award winning photographer for 20 years, and I have tons of tips, hints just general thoughts on photography that I'd love to share with you! Feel free to check out my photographs and paintings at http://www.barbstitzer.com/ and tell me what you think. I'm glad that you're here!